LaurelesTX
A town of 4,224.
Is Laureles a good place to live?
Laureles gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $152K for a typical one, or 2.9 years of the Brownsville metro’s $53K median household income. It grades C− overall, 438th among Texas's 640 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $35K, and 35% of residents live below the poverty line, and FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 76% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top. 35% of residents live below the poverty line in Laureles, where Texas’ towns sit at 12% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 99% of U.S. towns. Only 6 of the 642 Texas towns we compare have a higher January low than Laureles.
Laureles has grown 11% from 2010 to 2020
3,692 counted in 2010 and 4,111 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
How Laureles grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Laureles is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Laureles: who provides what
Laureles is unincorporated, so Cameron County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Laureles.
Laureles has more 90° days than nearly all U.S. towns and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it has poverty well above the Texas rate.
Laureles stands out in Texas and nationally: a smaller share of its adults had a checkup this year
Against the 1,207 U.S. towns with household incomes like Laureles’s, it is healthier than 82%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
69% of adults had a checkup this year in Laureles. Laureles beats the Texas average on 2 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 14. 39% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in Laureles.
| Laureles | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 18% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 69% | 74% | 79% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 24% | 19% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 30% | 25% |
| What stands out | Laureles | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 3.7% | 6.1% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 17% | 21.6% |
| More uninsured adults | 38.6% | 19.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Laureles’ public schools outperform 69% of Texas districts
Its public schools are run by Los Fresnos CISD. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmer-Laakso ElLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 582 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
Most working residents commute out of Laureles
Laureles has 45 jobs for its 1,584 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Laureles for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Brownsville (23%), Harlingen (13%) and Los Fresnos (13%).
| Laureles | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 0.7% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Hurricanes leads a high hazard risk in Laureles
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Mild winters and hot summers in Laureles
The Harlingen weather station, 13 miles away, records that about 151 days a year reach 90°, more than in 98% of U.S. towns. January nights average 51.4°, milder than in 99% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 94.1°.
Laureles has warm winters and hot summers. The July high in Laureles is 94°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Laureles has set aside 0.7% of its land for conservation
Just 21 of its 3,084 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Laureles itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
1.0 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. The biggest place to walk is Laureles County Park, 22 acres with 1 miles of trail.
| Laureles | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.7% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Laureles County Park | 1 mi | 22 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Homes in Laureles sell for about $170K
The median property tax bill is $1,102, against $4,232 across Texas, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Laureles’ median rent is $873 a month.
| Laureles | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 81% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $873 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Starbase and 4 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Laureles. Close and well known come first.
Big draw21 mi Park & preserveStarbase
16 mi LandmarkFort Brown
14 mi Zoo & aquariumGladys Porter Zoo
5 mi National Historical ParkPalo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park169K visitors a year
32 mi National SeashorePadre Island National Seashore573K visitors a yearPhoto credits
Starbase: Jared Krahn, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fort Brown: Pi3.124, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gladys Porter Zoo: Jc161991, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park: Schmorleitz, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Padre Island National Seashore: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain
Everything we know about Laureles
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Laureles; the nearest are
About 7 of every 100 Laureles residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Texas.
99% of working residents leave Laureles for work
Where Laureles’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Laureles
CDP in Texas, United States
Laureles is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cameron County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,111 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Brownsville–Harlingen Metropolitan Statistical Area. Laureles is an area between Los Fresnos and San Benito.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 4.8 sq mi
- Elevation
- 20 ft
- Area code
- 956
Questions about Laureles
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Laureles, TX a good place to live?
Laureles grades C− overall, better than 15% of U.S. towns and #438 of 640 in Texas. It grades C− for health and B+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is Laureles, TX expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $152,000, 49% below the Texas typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.